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Peachtree Immediate Care on Lafayette Parkway is now testing for COVID-19 antibodies. 

According to Account Manager Meagan Taylor, the antibody test is not meant to be a primary diagnostic test for COVID-19.

“This is for that patient who says, ‘you know back in February I was so sick and I swear I had the coronavirus,’” Taylor said. “The magic number is 10. You want to have been exposed greater than 10 days, or had symptoms greater than 10 days ago.”

Taylor said this test does not show immunity — just exposure.

The test has a 98 percent accuracy rate when receiving a negative result. If a patient receives a positive result, there is a 10 percent to 15 percent false positive rate.

Taylor said the test is completely covered by insurance and they are welcoming walk-ins for the test.

“We are also doing curbside triage and treatment, so if anyone comes to the door and they have a cough, fever or flu-like symptoms, we ask them to stop and go back to their car,” Taylor said. “We have an e-registration where they can register online from there phone, and it communicates with our system inside.”

A medical assistant will then go out to the car and test for flu or strep.

“We are trying to limit exposure inside, so that other patients that are coming in for UTI’s, GERD screenings, injuries and things like that, they feel comfortable coming inside,” Taylor said.

Taylor said that after the patient is tested outside for strep for flu, the provider will also go outside and meet with the patient to treat them.

“If they feel like they are a candidate for the live COVID testing, meaning they’re currently symptomatic, then they are referring to our Newnan clinic,” Taylor said. “We have a drive-thru testing site there. We are doing the throat swab, and that is 99 percent accurate. It can pull viral shedding for the last 14 to 21 days.”

According to a frequently asked question sheet given to patients, if the body has not developed any detectable antibodies to the virus there will be a negative result. Therefore, the patient does not have any detectable immunity to the coronavirus and they should continue to take precautions to avoid exposure.

A positive antibody test means the patient has been exposed to the virus at some point and the body has formed a detectable amount of antibodies to the virus.

“There are so many studies out there, that it is not guaranteed that you can’t get it again,” Taylor said. “So many people have been curious about it and want to know if they have had. We were getting calls all day, every day to see if we were testing for antibodies. There’s many inquiring minds, and people just want to know because it’s so new.”

The antibody test is a blood drawn test, and results are expected to be back in three to four days.

Peachtree Immediate Care, located at 1495 Lafayette Parkway, launched the testing officially on Wednesday afternoon.

For more information, call (706) 884-7822 or visit peachtreemed.com.